#the only difference is in America the natives are STILL FUCKING HERE and everyone just seems dead set on ignoring them

[nexus-nebulae]

man the Stormcloaks really are like Americans because the stormcloaks are constantly saying "skyrim belongs to the nords!!!!!" when they literally came from another fucking continent and committed a full genocide of the natives to live there in the first place

[qqueenofhades]

there definitely is the lack sympathy and solidarity between the oppressed groups of people around the world.

ethnic russians have been colonizing the central asia, the western asia, the caucasus, the eastern europe and oppressing the natives of these lands for CENTURIES!

russia has established the hegemony of the ethnic russians and hierarchy where the people of the caucasus and central asia are not considered as white thus are discriminated against. even other slavs like ukrainians and poles (who are indeed seen as white in the russian power sphere) are percieved as lesser disposables.

if the westerner leftists understood that the social constructs and power dynamics around the world are constantly changing, have changed throughout history and are different depending on the region and depending on which country/people are the global powerhouses in said region, the discourse would be much easier and more productive.

i'm west asian myself who used to be naively optimistic about the us anti-imperialist leftists, but ever since the war in ukraine, my delusions have shattered beyond repair... the us americans live in their own bubble and want to see the world through that usa-centric bubble's lenses. you see someone try to educate them about the situation and realities of other place and people and said usa americans will accuse those people of horrible stuff bc usa americans hate it when their simplistic worldview ideologically rooted in puritanism is being challenged.

a good example is how the middle easterners are either talked about as "white" or "poc" depending on whether or not the us americans want to sympathize with them and admit that the middle easterners are the victims of oppression/imperialism.

i can't blame the people of africa, latin americans and other people who suffered bc of europe and the us for falling for russian propaganda, but seeing ourselves as the only katniss everdeens of the world won't solve anything.

I mean... yeah. As I've written about a lot, the perspectives of so-called "anti-imperialist" American leftists, both in regard to the Russia-Ukraine war and overall, are generally absolutely fucking dismal. Both because they lack any sense of historicity, nuance, or attempt to deal with complex issues, and also because they are, as you note here, still myopically fixated on the US as the center of the world, the only agent of actual change, and the cause of everything bad ever. They are good at weaponizing the language of social justice and accusing everyone and everything of racism, but they rarely seem to have a sense of what that actually means outside the American context, and frankly for that matter, inside it.

A lot of "anti-imperialist" leftists are only opposed to American empire, which they think is the only empire to ever exist (as if European colonialism and empire didn't create America; as if the Roman Empire didn't create Europe, etc. etc.) Because the Republican right opposed the Soviets during the Cold War, plenty of modern leftists have now decided that that means the USSR/Putinist Russia is actually good after all!!! It's a meme ideology with absolutely no substance or internal coherence, because it's completely based on shallow and distorted mirror-images that they adopted solely out of contrarianism. They borrow the language and symbols of Marxism-Leninism in their fantasy online lives, they decide that this makes them Communist Visionaries, and they trade purposefully-misinterpreted jargon in their Twitter echo chambers without ever attempting to consider either what it really means or how these extremely fraught symbols were interpreted and used in the real world. They want to proclaim that Communism Good!!!, so they do that, and any and all nuance or actual example to the contrary is just Neoliberal Corporate Bootlicking. Or something like that.

What's funny, of course, is that the "anti-imperialist" leftists are still relying completely on a sense of Western exceptionalism and intellectual imperialism, wherein their own interpretations are always to be preferred over anything that the Savages might be saying; the Misguided Natives just need the Wise Western Man to correct them and show them why Tankie Communism is Good! Which, of course, is the exact vernacular of European Christian white-supremacist colonialism from the 16th to 19th centuries, and seriously calls into question any remotely accurate claim to being "anti-imperialist." Like, do you know what those words even MEAN? Or like, ANY words?

As I have said in earlier posts: yes, it's understandable, if disappointing, that people from Africa/India/Latin America, all of which HAVE suffered extensively from actual Western imperialism, have proven susceptible to Russian propaganda about how the current conflict is all the Evil West's Fault. But it's even more disappointing that presumably educated and "enlightened" Western leftists who trumpet their anti-imperialism have become such cheerleaders for a genocidal fascist imperial regime, simply because they think that anything America opposes is morally and/or structurally good. Which is just so facile and stupid on so many levels, not to mention ignores the reality of the Ukrainian war and its root causes on pretty much every front, but for them, that's basically par for the course.

[tottwriter]

You know, it’s always great to shit on other countries for stuff we don’t understand! I’m so glad that this literally never has any drawbacks and doesn’t contribute to negative stereotyping!

So. The thing people have to understand. America big. UK small.

This doesn’t sound like a major revelation, but in the context of nature/wildlife, it makes a huge difference. In North America, the population density is just so low that, until the industrial era, there really wasn’t any feasible way for human activity alone to impact these species in the same way. Any time humans wanted an area to be free of predators, they just...went somewhere else.

But where do you go when you’re on an island where the sea is literally never more than 72 miles away. And for the most part, it’s considerably less than that. In every direction, there is a coast with a town/village, or a major river where people want to settle. And over thousands of years, as these settlements formed, and people decided they didn’t want to get picked off by apex predators, those animals were pushed back, and back, and back.

There is evidence of Lynx living in the far north of the UK until as recently as about 1,500 years ago, but further south they had already lost their habitat to farmers. We’re talking BC/BCE here. Again, this wasn’t aristocrats, it was farmers. Trying to farm.

Our forests were cleared over centuries, as people laid out fields for crops, and raised livestock to graze on patches of grass. A lot more went during the tudor period, in the name of building ships, because the Tudors, weirdly enough, weren’t really focused on environmental protection, and like..these forests are huge, man! Who runs out of trees??

We lost bears around a thousand years ago, and wolves in the 1760s due to people, again, not wanting to get eaten while they were travelling. And seeing as they were our only large predators...that’s...pretty much how it happened. The varieties of sheep and cows that exist here have evolved to suit our landscape over time, and in areas where deer population get out of control, there are annual culls to stop them destroying all the woodland.

But, while there are absolutely ongoing efforts to reintroduce lost species to the UK, such as beavers and bison, birds of prey, and even boar,  large carnivores are a harder ask. There just isn’t a lot of space here that is suitable. Everywhere you look, there’s another village.

Does the UK have a history of aristocratic dickheads fucking things up for everyone? Well yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re known for. But is the UK a nation of nature-hating psychopaths who go around burning everything to the ground just for fun? No. Not at all. 

While the percentage of the UK which is designated a “National Nature Reserve” is absolutely tiny, it’s important to remember that most of our wild spaces aren’t designated that way. We have privately owned gardens that open to the public, and charitable organisations which protect and maintain large areas of wildlife. (Large by UK standards, at least. But remember, the UK is less than 100sq miles in TOTAL.)

No one is denying that the UK has been wholly shaped by human activity, and at this point, has lost every bit of “pristine” nature, along with many large animals. But this is less due to wanton destruction in the name of sport, and more about population pressures in a small, contained space. Island living is never going to work the same as it does on a vast continent, and efforts to bring back biodiversity have to adapt along those lines.

Likewise, the existence or absence of large, dangerous predators have to be understood along those lines as well. Humans aside, we just... have smaller predators these days. Foxes, badgers, weasels and stoats, even wild cats (In Scotland, and highly endangered, but they are native to the UK). We still have a lot of wildlife. It’s just, deer aside, most of it can easily hide when you walk by.

Actually your society is the freaks for shooting everything that moves and burning half your "nature reserves" every year so that upperclass dandies can eat leaded pheasant. North Americans are the well adjusted ones here, your country has become a desolate suburban lawn in island form

[pudgy-planets]

This is probably gonna be a bit heavy, but it’s on my mind.

CRT. Systemic Racism.

You’ve seen the countless amount of legislation attempt to push back on it. Like with states attempting to/successfully banning the curriculum of AP African American studies since it discusses topics that aren’t “relevant to education” or “is indoctrinating children”

Which isn’t what was happening in the first place. I’ve seen countless “Ban CRT” and “Don’t Say Gay” bills and rallies or “concerned” parents worrying about their children becoming woke. Even going as far to take them out of school and homeschool so they’ll be taught only what their parents want them to know.

I think what gets underneath my skin the most is the simple fact that majority of these people complaining about this… aren’t black. They’re not even people of color. Obviously there are people of color who side with these people, but it’s an overwhelming majority of non-POC people. It bothers me greatly.

Only those who are not oppressed or actively benefit from a system wouldn’t even understand why their beliefs are a problem. They claim that the notion of the country being systematically racist is just untrue and that people going to end slavery and MLK Jr. aided with the Civil Rights Act.

But this in turn is a flawed outlook because nobody is trying to rewrite history. They’re expanding on it.

Race IS a social construct. People have differing skin tones and biological features based on the environments they lived in. Thats just how evolution and adaption works. Everyone is a human being, but the idea of Race was created European colonial powers who wanted to establish themselves as superior to the indigenous cultures of the west.

The US was built on the backbone of racism and slavery. They removed the native people from their lands, brought slaves from America to here, forced them to work, killed so many-

And even when slavery was abolished- laws and regulations were put into place to ensure that people of color, people from different countries, and more were oppressed from voting, owning land, getting representation, finding work, etc.

It took until 1964 for an actual law to be put into place to ensure that overt racism in the eyes of the law was no longer a reality. 188 years since the country’s founding. Two centuries just about.

Even to this day, racism and the like still exist. Stereotypes run rampant. Employers and companies are still racist. POC may get passed over job opportunities simply because their name isn’t “white” enough. POC dominate the quantity of impoverished people percentage. Dominate crime rates. Dominate the number of people in the prison system. It’s not a “culture” problem.

It’s a fundamental flaw of the system and country they live in. It fails them continuously. Even trying to get federal aid like food stamps or unemployment checks are masked under this stigma of “Taking hard working Americans and their tax money so they can be lazy”

And then these programs get cut back, more restrictions are placed on them, and it’s so hard to even attain it and yet so easy to lose it. People want a basic universal income not because they’re fuckign lazy, but because they’re depressed, they’re oppressed, and forced to do what they can to fucking survive since the country doesn’t give a shit.

Crime will AWLAYS exist. That is inescapable, but there is a direct correlation between poverty and crime.

There is nothing greedy or religiously abhorrent about wanting enough to money to feed yourself and family. Religion shouldn’t even be a part of a decision in government to begin with.

Just like how feminism benefits men and women, understanding the history and the intricacies of it will benefit EVERYONE.

[kenobihater]

You’re (Probably) Drawing Archers Wrong

Hello, my name is Len and I’ve shot archery as a hobby for as long as I can remember. I have a problem: fanart depicting archery is oftentimes Very Wrong! I feel like most of this stems from not using good reference pictures, and from a general lack of knowledge. So, I wanted to create a post for anyone interested in accurately drawing an archer! Disclaimer: this is not a comprehensive post or a tutorial on how to shoot, and is intended for artists. That said, if you’re interested in archery, you may still find value in this post, though I recommend doing your own research. I’m certain there will be errors here considering I do this as a hobby not a profession, and I welcome corrections. Finally, archery can be dangerous, and even if you don’t read any more of this post, PLEASE read the safety section.

Safety

This part is going to be a PSA, because the thought of someone reading my post, getting into archery themselves, and doing these things? It terrifies me. So, rules number one, two, and three are: never aim at another person (duh), never use a damaged bow or arrows, and never, NEVER dry fire a bow. Dry firing means drawing back and releasing the string without an arrow. This can make your bow EXPLODE. It can hurt you, and even if your bow doesn’t explode, it’s fucked it up so bad that you should never shoot that bow again. Don’t do it, and don’t draw art of people doing it. Okay, PSA done, now onto the rest of the post.

There’s a TL;DR at the bottom!

First thing’s fist: the equipment! Archery requires four things: a bow, a quiver, arrows, and protective equipment (which is usually what I see most posts lacking). The first thing you should do before you draw your archer is decide what type of bow to give them. I’m not covering crossbows because I’ve only shot one once and I also Hate Them. There are three main types of bows: longbows, recurves, and compounds.

Bows

There are two different types of bows that are commonly called a longbow: English longbows, and flatbows (yes I’m considering flatbows a type of longbow to simplify things). English longbows are very large and have a very high draw weight (which means it’s hard to pull the sting back). These were used mainly by the English in the Middle Ages. Flatbows are typically smaller and have a lower draw weight as well as a slightly different profile. These were mainly used by Native American tribes such as the Hupa, the Karuk, and the Wampanoag, as well as prehistoric Europeans and the Finnish, among others. It is often seen in historical fiction and fantasy, and the English longbow is usually depicted as Robin Hood’s preferred bow type. I believe Katniss uses a flatbow in the beginning of Hunger Games, but don’t quote me on that.

Recurves have limbs that curve outwards and are smaller than longbows. Many, many cultures have used these, including but not limited to certain West-coast Native American tribes, the Mongols, the Scythians, the Greeks, the Turks, the Koreans, and the Chinese. Recurves can be made of either wood or of a combination of wood, horn, and glue, making them either composite or non-composite. These are the bows you typically see mounted archers using, and are often used in competitions today. It’s commonly seen in fantasy, and is the bow type used by Legolas, Tauriel, Katniss Everdeen in Mockingjay, Merida, Green Arrow has a lever action, and Hawkeye uses a silly collapsible one.

Compound bows are the most commonly used bow among hunters, are almost always made of fiberglass and either carbon fiber or aluminum, are Technical Looking, and pack the biggest punch for the least amount of effort. It’s a modern invention used worldwide. I don’t know where else to put this, but almost everyone who I know that shoots a compound uses something called a trigger release (pictured below) to draw back the string because it means your release is cleaner.

So, those are the main types of bow! Google which bow would be appropriat for the era and region your character is from, or if they’re from space or an alternate dimension, pick whichever you think fits the character the best.

Quivers

There are two types of quiver: back quivers, like Legolas wears, and hip quivers, like those used in the Olympics. Which quiver you should use varies from culture to culture and time period to time period. If it’s fantasy, set in modern day, or set in the future, you can chose whichever you prefer.

Arrows

Arrows can have shafts of wood or fiberglass, can have real feathers or synthetic for fletching, and can have countless different types of heads. The main two that are in use today are called field points and broadheads, and most commercial arrow shafts allow you to freely switch them out.

The arrow on the top is a field point, used only for target practice, and the arrow on the bottom is a broadhead, used only for hunting or war. You never hunt with a field point, and never practice with a broadhead. Basically every fictional character out there is shooting to kill, so they’ll all use either a broadhead, or a culturally appropriate variation of deadly arrowhead (bodkin, scythian, flint, etc). Do your research! A Native American wouldn’t use a bodkin, and a Scythian wouldn’t use a flint arrowhead!

Protective Equipment

The one really necessary piece of protective equipment is hand protection. If your character uses a three fingered draw or a pinch draw (we’ll speak on draws later), they need either an archery tab, or an archery glove. If your character is using a thumb draw, they need a thumb ring. These three pieces of equipment keep archers from getting blisters and damaged skin.

This is a tab.

This is the type of glove that I use. All an archery glove needs to do is protect your three draw fingers, but it can be more traditionally glove-like than this one. I’ve even seen ones that are a combination leather bracer and archery glove that give big Fantasy Vibes.

This is a ring. Some historical ones can get REAL ornate and pretty.

Another piece of protective equipment that is commonly used is an arm guard or a bracer. Not everyone uses one, because if your form is good the string should not be hitting your arm, so you can get away with not giving your character one. They can vary in style from something like the more minimal one below up to a full leather bracer.

Form

Form can vary greatly and I’m not about to diss other archery disciplines especially ones I’m ignorant on, so just know that not every culture has the same form. I’m just going to cover a few cultures’ variations, and what I’ve been taught by 21st century Midwest archers. There are several aspects to form, as form is just another term for “everything pertaining to how you shoot”. I’m going to break it down into stance, posture, draw, elbow discipline, holding the bow, and anchor. These are not the only aspects of form (there’s aiming, release, and breath control), but these are the only relevant aspects to drawing archers. I will not be covering mounted archery because I’m sadly ignorant on the topic. I recommend doing your own research and looking into Mongolian mounted archery.

Stance

The thing all stances have in common is that you should put your feet a shoulder-length apart, balance your weight equally between both feet, keep your knees slightly bent, and stand facing approximately 90 degrees away from your target. There are three stances that are common that I’m aware of: squared, open, and closed.

Squared stance means keeping both feet squared up to an imaginary line. Open means that you’re facing slightly towards the target. Closed means you’re facing slightly away. I vary between square and open, and to be honest I’ve never noticed a difference. So long as you draw your character standing with a stable stance, facing away from the target, you should be good.

Posture

Your posture should be with your back straight, your hips squared, and should never have you leaning. Below is one of my favorite archery pictures, not only because I love Marilyn, but because it is a great illustration of what not to do posture wise.

See how she’s leaning back? Yeah, don’t draw your character like that, it looks foolish.

Draw

There are four different types of draw that I’m aware of, I’m educated on three, and I have experience with one (though I’m itching to learn to thumb draw). The types of draw are three fingered draw, otherwise known as Mediterranean draw, pinch draw, thumb draw aka Mongolian draw, and Japanese draw, or torikake. I know fuck all about Japanese draws, so I’m not going to speak out of my ass on topics I don’t understand (if anyone reading practices traditional Japanese archery I would love if you chimed in!). I highly recommend doing your own research on which civilization your character comes from and which draw they use, especially if it’s Japanese because I’m not covering that here.

First up is three-fingered. This is the draw I use, and it’s the most common draw in my limited experience in the Midwestern archery community. It is common in Europe and the Middle East. It requires you to use three fingers, partially wrapped around the string. You do not pinch the arrow. Most people place their index finger above the arrow and their middle and ring finger below, though I’ve seen all different variations. If your character is right handed and uses this draw, draw the arrow on the left side of the bow. Lefties do the inverse, and make sure and draw a left handed bow while you’re at it.

Next is the pinch draw. I’ve never shot with this, nor seen it used. It was common in the Americas and for a time in Ancient Greece. You’re supposed to physically pinch the arrow between your thumb and index finger. Your character would need a full archery glove if you draw them with this grip. The release is supposed to be smooth because there’s only one point of contact, rather than three. I believe you would place the arrow on the right side of the bow when using this technique, but I cannot speak with certainty as I’ve never seen it done (again, lefties would do the opposite).

Last but not least is the thumb or Mongolian draw, though it is/was also widespread in Korea, China, Russia, Persia, Turkey, and the Roman and Byzantine Empires. In this draw you wrap your thumb completely around the string and tuck it behind your other fingers. You do not grab the arrow. This draw utilizes your strongest digit, and so it may be less strenuous than other draws. This draw is commonly used with mounted archery. If your character is right handed and using this draw, put the arrow on the right side of the bow (lefties, do the inverse).

Elbows

Another aspect of your draw that is important is elbow discipline. The elbow of your character’s string hand should not point up into the air. It should point straight back, like the picture below.

Now, the other elbow is important, too. Don’t draw them with a locked elbow, instead keep it slightly bent and rotated inwards, like the picture below.

Holding the Bow

Your character shouldn’t have a death grip on the bow. Instead, show it resting in the curve between the thumb and index finger. Here’s a wikihow article that describes the different ways to hold different types of bows that is more succinct than I could ever be. Ignore the crossbow (derogatory).

Anchor 

Everyone needs an anchor. What’s an anchor, you ask? An anchor is a fixed spot that you draw your string back to whenever you’re going to shoot. It’s necessary in order to ensure consistency, which is accuracy’s best friend. Your anchor spot can vary. I anchor at the corner of my lip. Some people anchor underneath their chin. Some anchor to their ear. I’ve even seen some people in Asian disciplines anchor behind the ear or almost above the head, which is incredibly impressive. Bottom line, unless your character’s archery discipline has them draw behind the ear or above the head, you need to have them touching their head somewhere. The only wrong anchor is a short anchor. If you can’t draw the string back far enough to touch your face, that means you’re either trying to draw back a bow with too high a poundage, or the draw length is too short for you. The picture above of the person with the compound trigger release has a good anchor point on their face. The picture of the person with the arm guard has a good anchor point under their chin.

This person, on the other hand? Their anchor is out in space, that is to say they don’t have one (also their elbow discipline, posture, and stance are atrocious). I see this in fanart ALL THE TIME. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Don’t do this, have them anchor to their head or behind it somewhere.

Carrying The Bow

The best way is to just carry it in your hand by the bow (not the string). You can give your character a bow sling, or a back mount like Legolas has as well. You can slip the string over your shoulder and wear it across your back in a pinch, though this may damage the string. The only really wrong way to carry a bow is by the string, though you can damage your bow carrying it on your back if you’re stupid, and I’ve never tried to do so with a compound. Too pokey.

TL;DR

If you’re drawing a fantasy character, go buck wild. Still make sure to give them the right type of arrowhead, hand protection of some sort, a strong stance (no kneeling or sitting), good posture, a sensible draw, elbow discipline, an anchor point (don’t be like the person above!), and a good way to carry their bow, but you can have fun with the rest. If you’re drawing a character from history, research the archery discipline they would most likely use, and draw them with the appropriate bow type, quiver, arrows, protective equipment, stance, posture, draw, elbow discipline, anchor, and bow carry.

[dude-ihavenoidea]

HELL IS EMPTY

ALL THE DEMONS ARE HERE

Wanda is the Scarlet Witch. After going through the heartbreak of losing her perfect fake life, she cannot settle down with just a real and empty one. Wishing for all that should be impossible to have – it’s just not the most safe choice to make, or the most healthy life to fantasize about, but for her, it’s not a choice at all. Her children. Her boys. They are the last and only source of happiness remaining in her life. And Wanda want… WILL… have them back. She will destroy whatever it takes. Kill whomever is in her way.

But there’s consequences. The living and breathing embodiment of a nightmare, created by the decisions of no one other than the Scarlet Witch herself. All that Wanda should have predict, and all that she will never forget.

They are equals – with a destructive mind and the power to end it all. Two sides of the same blood stained coin.

Warning ⚠️ ⚠️ This story will contain talks of depression, anxiety, grief, gruesome murder and other sensitive topics. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

A/N: DOCTOR STRANGE: MoM SPOILERS! I intend to make this a small series, after seeing the movie I just could not stop thinking about it.

English is not my native language, so there might be some mistakes. Sorry!

Anyway, enjoy!

Part 01

…

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Doctor Strange used to be happy. After the last fill months, the blip and the battle against the Mad Tyrant – Thanos, things have not looked as bright as they used to. Sure, they haven’t for a while now. Being someone devoted to his responsibilities just as extraordinary as he’s abilities – things can get… complicated. Maintaining a personal life is just as hard as any mission to safe the entire universe.

The woman he loved just got married.

Five years away, it was hard to keep up with things. But, married? Getting the invitation felt like a slap to the face. Watching the ceremony imagining himself standing in the altar, waiting anxiously for the love of his life, and then, waking up from the day dreaming with a smiley and giggly ‘I do’, said by man who should be him? Yeah, things were not looking great.

And they just went downhill…

Fighting in the street with a giant, slimy monster that destroyed a dozen of cars, a bus, the whole side of a building and then a few stop lights just to get to this one teenager. The same one that not only stole his ring, and tried to run away with it, but confirmed that his recent nightmares are real –, lives from different universes.

By the time one in the afternoon round up in his beaten up clock, Strange had already seen a corpse of himself. Witch he buried illegally, in the ground of the top the building. And by the next morning he had dozens of friends and fellow sorcerers dead. All littering the floors of the supposed to be sacred and untouched land of Kamar-Taj. The closest thing he had to call home. Destroyed.

It was a lot to deal with just so little time.

To make things even better, people kept asking him if he was happy. Like, come on. Were they joking? Could they not see by the tiredness in his eyes, small cuts and bruises in he’s face, and all the small little red flags on he’s demeanor that, in fact, Doctor Strange was just a bad decision away from fucking everything up?

America could. The scared, yet though looking teenager seemed to be the exception. Besides, of course, Wong. America could see that this Strange was still trying to make everything right, even when he actually wasn’t. That was the proof needed. He was different. This Steven Strange was different. Not a version that would betray her in the last moment out of despair, and try to absorb her powers just like the monsters chasing her between worlds.

This version of Strange was no perfect man, he was actually far from it. And this imperfections shaped he’s will to do the right thing, even if it is the hardest one. Just like he had done once, against Thanos.

Ghosts from the past, haunt the future. It’s everyone’s choice to decide if they will forever control their minds, or not. Strange choose no. But only if everyone choose the same. Maybe universes wouldn’t be stuck between the war of grief.

The idea was simple enough. After almost dying – again –, and Wanda losing the dark hold, the duo knew that getting the damn book and keeping it away from her, was the right thing to do. Or at least, the only chance they had at the moment. So, America jumped them into another universe, and they landed in the most depressing place they’ve ever seen.

A home. Clean enough to let them know that someone lived here, but without furniture. Just a hollow, black and white prison – it was as the colors had ran away, something out of an old movie. America felt something wrong in the air, Steven walked carefully. They could cut the tension with a knife.

Wisely, America stood behind. Watching the flanks while Steven keeps his eyes glued to the end of the hallway. This weird felling in his chest alerting him to get ready. Someone was there, waiting in the living room. The top of his cape standing at the sides of his face protectively.

They round the hallway, foot squishing the old looking white carpet and stopped. Not even a single move. America was so tense that she couldn’t even breath. The silence was deafening, and made both feel like they were not where they supposed too.

A couple of pictures, framed, stud alone in the floor showered by the faded light of the window. No, this place is private. It’s story was melancholic, saddening. The whole atmosphere felt like screaming them to leave. Run away and never came back. To not let its dark history to overcome their minds and control their reason.

In the corner of the squared living room, a woman.

Hair a bit tangled, face red with tears that she didn’t have anymore. The sadness in her eyes made America flinch, and Strange realize that pain could hurt even more than what he already knew. It scared him. To have the proof that someone can go far beyond hell and just, keep going. Stumbling in search of something. Anything at all.

She was seated in the only chair remaining in the house. No one lived with her anyway, she was alone. Silent, at first she could be easily taken by dead. But no, she was very much alive. Her body framed with this undulating warmth, dark like the most concrete shadow Strange has ever seen, and yet, alive like a fire. The color of her eyes pulsating out of the blackness surrounding it like ink, which could capture anyone’s attention. Similar to the intriguing dance of the waves in the sea.

Between her slim and long paled fingers, the Blackhold. Seemingly a lot less heavier than the chaos it’s pages could cause.

“Took you long enough”, she murmured with a raspy voice and extended her arm. The book waiting in the palm of her hand.

The cape moved in Strange’s shoulders, not liking how easy it seemed to be finally getting what they were looking for. Something so important, to be handed without a battle? America clenched her fists. Something seemed off.

Sensing the tension in the air, the woman waved a hand. The empty house changed, Strange expected dead apple trees, red angry skies and dark clouds with the smell of dark magic lurking around, like it was alive and waiting to pounce. Instead, he sees nothing. Just darkness, a feel itches of water above the ground and the lonely shine of a light far up, pale and faded like the light of the sun before. Around them, no walls, no view. It felt like the bottom of the ocean, he could actually sense the numbness touch he’s skin like an unwanted hug.

“Better?”, she asked without really wanting to know the answer. Strange just looked at her, obviously uncomfortable. America keep looking in to the darkness, felling anxious and paranoid. She could swear that something would run at them any moment now. “There’s nothing there”, the teenager looked to her surprised. Did she just read my mind?

“It’s a projection. All you see… It can’t hurt you now, it’s… it’s in the past…”, America frowned even more. “Now, take the damn book”.

“You’ll just give it to us. Just like that”, she doubted it.

“No. I expect something in return”, the ominous woman denied and Strange prepared himself for a fight. “I want a ride”, she said.

He blinked, looked to America and back at her, like she just talked to him in Spanish. “I’m sorry, what?”. The woman took a deep breath and slouched in her chair. Her dark eyes moving to America with a sense of obviousness that made them realize exactly what she wanted. “You want to go to another universe”.

“Yes”, she responded easily.

“Why? You don’t want to get your imaginary kids back to, right?”, Strange said with exhaustion. Having no idea who this woman was, and being way too stressed with the treat of a collapsing multiverse to care.

She took a long and calming breath. The darkness around them came to life with a low rumble that both could fill vibrating in their ribs, like it could squeeze the air out of their lungs and pop their hearts faster than they could feel the pain.

“They may not be real in your reality, but in this one… they were”, her voice cracked a bit, a dangerous mix of loss and rage that felt almost the same as Wanda’s.

Past sentence. America hated the felling creeping in her chest, almost freezing her in place again. The woman closed her eyes and the darkness dissipated to let the hollow home show around them. No bright colors, no happiness, the felling in the air was the same, but the view changed.

She looked to the left, guiding them both to the couple of pictures. Broken glass and damaged framing, but the color in the printing was far more alive than anything else in there. Even her. Big smiles and bright brunet hair. Two boys playing in the yard with a ball, Wanda seemed to call them both back home. The sun shining in the sky, no clouds, just the never ending blue above the front of that same house.

The second one, was a little more simple. The woman had a book in her lap, eyes closed while Wanda kissed her forehead. Both of them cozy and warm under the blankets, and wearing matching weeding rings –, the silly secret of a random midnight conversation kept away from the world by a closed door. The vulnerability was different from the one visible now. Was a happy one, comfortable and safe.

“I don’t want them back”, she said after a minute of heavy silence, “I now how the multiverse works. They would not be mine…”, the broken little whisper felt like an iceberg in the air. “And, I know, that I don’t exist in other universes too. I… shouldn’t even exist in this one. I’m a flaw in the fabric of reality. Like a deviant, but different”.

“A what?”, America whispered. Strange shook his head.

“Who are you, and how do you know so much?”, the demanding tone in his voice almost cracked with a simple look. The darkness called him like power to the weak and penetrated the skin. Steven got goosebumps immediately. She wasn’t even trying to look in to his head, so what in the hell was he felling?

Silence. She just kept looking until it became almost too much.

“If you don’t want them back… then what is it, exactly?” America questioned hurriedly, trying not to stare, sensing the cold breath of air running down her spine. Strange was afraid to, more than she had seen with Wanda.

The duo stud tense. Tiny little orbs of dust danced in the air between them. The silence muffled their ears. Strange could easily count to America’s heartbeat, drumming furiously while they both tried to figure out if that was the right moment to pick up the book and run.

“My name, is Y/n Maximoff. Widow… Widow of Wanda Maximoff”, she controlled the urge of crying like every time she thinks about it.

America’s eyes bulged, Steven swallowed thickly. That was not good. A million dangerous questions started running in their brains as they waited for the answers.

“I know a lot of things”, she continued tiredly, “I learned them when I was a little kid. The blood that runs in my family is ancient and… powerful”, the way she choose her words was flawless. The slight accent was European and very recognizable.

“Are we in Sokovia?”, Strange asked more to himself than any other.

“Yes”, she said dryly.

America clenched her fists; waiting for the answer of the most important question in her mind, like it would be the last piece of the puzzle. The last bit of information that would say if this woman was an ally or just another extremely dangerous enemy. The Darkhold still in her hands, looking even more intimidating then it used to be in Wanda’s.

When Y/n opened her mouth, she turned out to be both.

“I want her dead”.

.

.

[beauty-and-passion]

What Eurovision 2021 taught us

1. That a nice, enjoyable show was possible (even if 4 presenters are still too much)

Of course nothing can beat Love Love Peace Peace (even if Ja Ja Ding Dong does its best), but this year's intermissions were very enjoyable.

We expected something flashy and over the top because hey, The Netherlands. Sex, drugs, gays and all that jazz.

But instead Covid surprised us. And then The Netherlands surprised us even more, by making a very enjoyable show, despite the restrictions. My personal favourites were:

The water intermission of the first semi-final. I loved the mixed feelings, how water is both scary and respected, for being such a powerful, unstoppable force.

The rooftop concerts during the final. Social distancing? Sure, no problem, let's make the past winners sing on top of some roofs all over Rotterdam. That was pure genius, I loved it so much.

On the other hand, the presenters were basically all useless. We could've had just two of them instead of four. But hey, at least they weren't as cringy as the three scary ukranians from 2017 or the useless four ladies from Portugal. The true highlights of the show were the intermissions, the guests and especially the songs themselves and this is perfectly good for me.

________________________

2. That we can live in a world without boring ass ballads

I’ve never been so proud of the Eurovision public, especially during the second semifinal: that evening was PACKED with ballads. Boring ballad after boring ballad, with just a couple more funny songs in between.

The ballads were all left behind. Even the two Amen. And I love the irony we chose El Diablo and the finnish band for the final, but no Amen. No saints allowed, only the norwegian angel. As it always should be.

And so we had the best final I've seen since I started following Eurovision in 2014. Catchy songs, dance songs, upbeat songs. And power ballads. Yes, ballads can still have a place, but only if they're good.

Because yes, Switzerland and France were good. Very good. Just not as good as the ones the public wanted.

________________________

3. That we want Eurovision, not Englishvision

Every year, the same message blasts from all Europeans: send a song in your native language. This show is supposed to make other people from Europe (and the rest of the world) to know more about your own country, to enjoy its rhythm and to listen to something we don't usually hear. So why waste this huge opportunity, to bring a generic song in English?

Because the English song wins. Because we all understand English, so English has more chances.

Flash news: GUESS WHO WON THIS YEAR. No, it’s not the generic English song.

The public has been crystal clear, the final poll is even clearer: the top five includes an italian song, an ukraine song, two french songs and only one english song. We want different styles and rhythms, we want to listen to Europe.

So I want to give my full thank you to:

Albania: amazing song, great voice, wonderful language. Do it again.

Serbia: these ladies are fantastic, their song is great and they sang it in their language so I love them

Switzerland: thank you for leaving English to the side to give us some good french

Spain: the song wasn't as good as Universo, but it was in sexy spanish, so thank you for using it almost every year

Danemark: the song was terrible, but it was in your language and this alone deserves everything

France: I know we all make fun of you for being France, but your language is perfect for songs, so thank you for always using it

Ukraine: take note, Ukraine, because Europe is madly in love with your language and your rhythm

Italy: our language is beautiful, so thank you for delivering every year

While my biggest biases go to:

Greece: a generic pop song with no balkan rhythm and no greek either? An absolute shame, greek should always be used for songs.

Russia: russian language is very melodious and yes, we got something this year, but what about bringing a full russian song? We want it!

Germany: I may sound crazy, but I honestly think german language is good for songs. It's not like the mediterranean languages, but it still works. So please, do not be scared and show what you can do with it!

Scandinavian countries: why do you never want to bring your own language? Do it, don't be scared! Yes, Sweden, I'm talking with you: you still never tried to bring something in swedish, so do it.

________________________

4. That we don't want Americans to play with us

For reasons we still have to understand, Flo Rida was competing this year. And he was competing for San Marino, the smallest European country.

I'm pretty sure they took some time to explain to him what was going on, where he was, where San Marino is, wtf was happening, why there were sexy italians and ukranian witches and a norwegian angel and loads of beautiful women everywhere.

And I loved how we all send memes about this, about ahahah why is Flo Rida here, what if San Marino wins where would they host Eurovision, all while enjoying an actual catchy song.

And then, in the end, Flo Rida basically disappeared. Who remembers Flo Rida, when we got Ukraine, Italy, Finland, Iceland, and the UK? And Germany being wholesome? And the love story between Norway and Azerbaijan? We collectively forgot about him and I think it's very sexy from Europe to just say "nope" and push America away, even if for just one week.

And this isn't the first time: we basically showed Madonna in a corner in 2019, thanks to Mans, Eleni, Verka and Conchita. Once again, Europeans knows what they want: we don't want Americans. Australia can because they're like that little brother we took under our wing for no reason and now it's part of us. But not Americans.

The rest of the year is all yours, but one week is ours.

________________________

5. That we can lose like bosses

This year, the voting results have been absolutely insane and FOUR COUNTRIES got zero points from the public, while the UK got both zero points from the public AND the jury.

Don't get me wrong, the song was bad. And yes, Brexit played a role in this. And yes, hating England is Europe’s favourite sport.

But can we please all take a moment and appreciate how James Newman reacted? The public gave him a round of applause and he celebrated this achievement like a boss.

And he had all the reasons! He achieved something incredible, he unlocked something that this new voting system was supposed to never lead to. But he did it. So hats off to you, my boy: My Last Breath was better.

Germany is also used to the bottom of the chart, but this year I really thought Jendrik could have a chance to achieve a higher position. The song was funny, carefree, lively, the hand costume was the kind of trash we need and the message was nice as well. But he still got 3 points.

Despite that, Jendrik celebrated like a maniac and seeing his this happy made me happy as well. I really wish him the best.

________________________

6. That FUCK YOU JURY

Again, same message every year: the jury vote should be eliminated. It's a fucking farce and their votes have nothing to do with what the public want.

The jury focuses on the voices, except when they don't, and clearly giving points to your neighbours is because you like the song, not because they're your neighbours.

I usually make fun of Greece and Cyprus showing eternal love to each other, by giving 12 points to each other every year, but this time, it sounded even more stupid than usual. It really looked like a farce. Why should we see this farce? Why can't we just choose what the public wants? So at least we would blame ourselves for our shitty musical tastes.

Even if I'm pretty sure we all have great musical tastes. Let's not forget that in 2019 the public's winner was Norway, with a song that mixed english, a catchy rhythm and an amazing part in yoik language. Arcade is good as well, but we cannot deny the norwegian entry was a lot more interesting.

And this year, the public's taste was flawless:

Look at this beauty: italian glam rock, ukranian techno folk, french powerful ballad, finnish hard rock and whatever that thing was with Iceland.

There's variety, there's everything for everyone. And there are native languages. Italian, Ukranian, and French on top three, followed by English.

Moral of the story: the public is great and the jury should be abolished forever.

________________________

7. That Ukranian technofolk is all we needed in our lives

I didn’t see enough love for Go_A, so as italian, I think it's my sworn duty to give my appreciation to them and their amazing entry, because this band is awesome and Shum is currently on top of the Spotify top 50 - as it should be, because everyone should listen to it and join this slavic rave party.

I already liked their entry for 2020, Solovey. But I also liked My Last Breath from the UK and Universo from Spain. And this year they brought two of the worst songs. So I was very wary of Go_A.

But Shum is an absolute blast. Katerina Pavlenko's voice is unique and the song is even more, because based on ukranian folklore and traditional dances to summon the spirit of spring. They managed to teach something to all Europe in a three minute song and I think that’s incredibly sexy of them.

And so, I searched for other songs and OMG, I don’t know how it’s possible, but they are all great. Rano-Ranenko, Zhalmenina, Tanula, they all are perfect and I’m in love with this band.

And if all of this is not enough, THEY DID A COVER OF DANCING LASHA TUMBAI. The most iconic Eurovision song, sang by our god Verka. And this is the coolest, most badass cover ever in the whole universe. Please listen to it HERE everyone needs to hear this.

So thank you, Ukraine, for giving us Go_A. We all had a small empty place in our hearts and this place has ben perfectly filled by them.

And yif you think you don’t need ukranian technofolk, is only because you still haven’t listened to it. Please listen and enjoy Shum. You’re welcome.

________________________

8. That rock and roll never dies (and Italy’s well deserved victory)

The last time Italy won was in 19-fucking-90. 31 years ago. I was just born.

And now, they finally won again. And what a song! Despite being italian, I've never listened to Maneskin before, but oh damn, this song is good. Not all their songs are, but this one is. And also Morirò da re.

Their show was perfect as well. This post is really eye-opening about how well they put on their show. The use of the stage, the movements, everything has been part of a great performance, even their clothes. Damiano's voice never faltered, despite having an entire continent watching him. They handled the stage like bosses, despite being only in their twenties. And they gave us some good fucking rock.

And so the public said a loud "FUCK YOU" to the jury and chose its winners. The sassy, sexy italians.

And yes, I know that there has been a lot of petty polemics because those youngsters are having drugs!1!! as if they were a bunch of idiots who used drugs on international TV, with their manager sitting next to them.

Of course it was a pointless accusation and honestly I don't care if some people are sore losers. The drug results were negative anyway, what a shocker.

What we should truly think about is how strong the Maneskin's bladders are, because they spent the whole evening of the final drinking the entire alcohol supply of the Eurovision and, at the end, they were still happy and cool. Hats off to you, you sexy people.

This man is just iconic, why did I miss him before.

Also, have some more Maneskin. You know, as a treat.

________________________

9. That solidarity and wholesomeness are the biggest winners

It's just beautiful to see these nice people, from all over Europe, bonding, having fun, taking photos together and being friends.

The true winner of this, is probably Norway: Tix wanted to have a good time and he had a good time. The video of him vibing with Ukraine and Germany while listening Hard Rock Hallelujah is the best (HERE). His love story with Efendi from Azerbaijan is even better (please, check the video on his youtube channel, it's hilarious). I don't like his song, but he's a great guy and deserves everything.

The italian and finnish rock relationship is also great. Maneskin and Dark Sides found each other, considering they were the only two rock bands in the competition, so mutual appreciation was inevitable.

But Damiano is also a man of culture and he appreciates Ukraine's entry. And Ukraine appreciates both Finland and Italy. Is this what world peace looks like? Because I love it.

________________________

10. That Italians will be Europe's clowns again (and you're all allowed to make fun of us)

Beware, Europe: we Italians are messy and chaotic, our presenters don’t know a single word in English, we are homoerotic AND homophobic at the same time, our musical competitions are so fucking sloooow... let’s say next year’s Eurovision is going to be interesting.

And yes, you’re allowed to make fun of us. We don’t care, we won, so we deserve to be Europe’s clowns once again.

And I don’t know who the presenters will be (my bets are on everyone’s favourites: Fiorello, Amadeus and Malgioglio), I don’t know how we will ridicule ourselves once again, I don’t know where will we find the money to put on the show, I don’t know how ungodly long it will be... but I know that Mans Zelmerlow will be part of it. This man loves Eurovision just like all of us, so I can already see him packing his suitcase and planning his flight to Italy. Come to us, Mans, we will wait for you. We actually need an English presenter, so if you have nothing else to do...

[ilsseongyi]

hello everyone,,, here is my boy nam seongwon aka seongyi. he is a 27 year old nerd horror fanatic. i honestly dont know how serious i want this kid to be yet or maybe more comedic than serious even. but some mystery is on the way for him so we'll take it in stride. mmm idk how to properly tldr or introduce so check out his points down below! anddd i don't currently have any wanted connections or plots as of now that im writing this preparing for opening sooo drop a like if you're alright with a completely random starter or check out the prompts below !

“fun facts”

stays up late to listen to horror podcasts from around the world. also does late night lives in his room to talk about horror stories and conspiracies in the dark.

usually out of the house at very odd times of the night due to his bad sleeping habits. doesn't run by a particular timezone. so

perpetually tired™

kind of a nerd but like, not the fan type nerds, just really geeky

seems smart...

studied abroad after his freshman year in uni and graduated in the states. ( five years abroad )

went by alex in the states because no one could pronounce his name. aka one of his first friends said "you look like an alex." and his english name was born

wanted to live out the rest of his life in the states, but the job he wanted fell through and he had to return to korea.

arrived after his grandfather's funeral took place and his parents told him to start over by taking over his grandfather's old business — isang wonders

didn't love the idea of returning to ilsang because he's reminded of why he hated his birthname and all the memories of everyone thinking he was a girl before meeting him

lowkey triggered because no one knows he legally changed his name to seongwon years ago so everyone still calls him seongyi

likes gaming from time to time in between his breaks from horror research and whatnot

lives in yeonhwa-gil because he’s in his grandfather’s old home was there. absolutely hates it because it smells like fish like all the time and he also hates eating fish. 

a full grown ass man but can’t sell the house because his parents won’t allow him to. lol

dude is only put together when he wants too otherwise,, things are kind of a mess.

honestly a completely different person than when he was in america because lowkey depressed and not all that optimistic being in ilsang

“random starters”

these can all be adjusted and changed as we go! just ideas to get started! reply with the corresponding number if you’d like me to write a starter based off of one of the prompts below!

it’s 3 fucking am and you keep hearing something meowing in the street but it doesn’t sound like the cats you usually hear. you go to look to see if its an injured cat but you find this nutcase in nothing but a tshirt, shorts and sandals meowing to a dark corner. he tells you the electricity went out in his house and he didn’t want to be alone so he’s trying to find a cat to keep him company outside.

you run into seongyi and think he’s a foreigner because he’s speaking fluent english. commence being convinced he’s not a native until he steps in dogshit and starts swearing up a storm.

it’s getting late and the library is closing and they’re kicking you out. but you notice there’s some guy sitting in the corner that they haven’t mentioned and say you’re with him.... now you’ve both been kicked out and seongyi is kindaa annoyed bec he was like five books deep in research and the librarian yelled at him.

the elders of yeonhwa-gil have organized a neighborhood dinner and both you and seongyi were invited. surprise surprise, they only have fish. fish stew. grilled fish. steamed fish. pan-fried fish. just everything you could think of plus fish. seongyi sees you brought something that ISN’T fish and honestly, you’re his new best friend in that moment.

hi yeonhwa-gil neighbor. the plumbing and electricity both stopped working in my house and for some reason the electrician is not picking up his phone. can i use your bathroom. except i keep coming when it’s super late or super early until you get sick of me and tell me to go to just get a room at haedodi.

hey i know you, you’re the guy who makes video and streams online about horror and scary things right? you recognize seongyi from some of his videos maybe or clips of him that have gone around. he has verified social media after all. maybe you guys talk about things in ilsang.

[ponett]

hi i watched the new my little pony movie and it was... pretty good! it was very cute, i like the new cast a lot, there were some nice heartfelt moments that had some surprising depth, all the locations were really pretty to look at, the poppy musical numbers were fun, the character animation is really lively. it's a solid little fantasy adventure flick for kids. i do have mixed feelings about the story though. here are some casual-ish thoughts. (i posted some of this on twitter last night but i have even more thoughts now. i'm sorry. i'm so sorry)

spoilers below the cut

okay so, i liked it a lot when it was just letting the new characters play off each other, but unfortunately my fears came true and almost the entire movie is laser focused on the oversimplified extremely on-the-nose trump era racism allegory plot. i do have to cut it some slack for their good intentions, and this is a 90 minute animated movie for 5-year-olds, so there's only so much they can do. it did also have a bit more nuance than i expected at points. (it's more nuanced than zootopia, for what it's worth. not that that's hard.) and hell, friendship is magic also screwed up its attempts at similar topics, and y'all know how much i still love that show. so it's not like i hate this movie. but it has such an oversimplified "we should all be friends!" take on real issues, and it frustrates me that it completely dominates the film, being the main focus of almost every single scene

there's some interesting stuff where they show how those in power are stoking peoples' fears to maintain their own power. like the big factory in the earth pony town is essentially an arms manufacturer capitalizing on the fear of outsiders, the cops mainly exist to uphold the laws segregating the ponies, the pegasus royal family pretends they still have the ability to fly and this lie seems to be the only reason they're in power (the queen literally gets arrested the second the truth comes out lol). but then they all just kind of... see the error of their ways shortly after meeting other types of pony, and there are no repercussions? not saying this toy commercial cartoon for little girls needs to fuckin kill the bad guys or throw them in jail or whatever, but we don't even get like a "they made them turn the arms factory into something else" type resolution, and no one even really acknowledges that these characters did anything wrong. no one is considered an oppressor, the movie takes for granted that these people in power who derive their power from bigotry were just misguided, and that they'll totally change their beliefs as soon as they're presented with new information. society is fundamentally unjust, but none of the individuals maintaining that unjust status quo are at fault for doing so

i also don't know if it's a good or bad thing that there's no explanation for why the ponies hate each other now. like on the one hand at least there's no historical backstory that inadvertently justifies the prejudices (like zootopia and its story about how the predators used to eat the prey). but on the other hand... how the hell did they get from g4 to here in the intervening centuries? at my most uncharitable it feels like this whole story about how equestria used to be this land where everyone got along and now everyone is divided is a heavy-handed metaphor for The Sudden Division Of America In The Trump Era as it's perceived by a lot of liberals. history didn't logically lead us to this point, no one is really at fault, everyone just arbitrarily started hating each other at some point and we just all need to put that aside and get along again. it's almost the FiM episode about how the cowboys and the natives should just learn to share all over again. (again: i will admit this is an uncharitable read of the film)

(sidebar with BIG SPOILERS: the very end also really bugged me, but that's more just a personal taste thing. in the leadup to g5 i was excited to see them make an earth pony the protagonist. i thought that was a nice change of pace after nine seasons of twilight. but then in the end of the movie, after sunny delivers the moral, she's magically turned into an alicorn... like oh we're just doing that again huh. okay. it also doesn't really gel with this story where the different types of pony are being used for a racism/xenophobia allegory)

i feel a little bad hyper-focusing on the way the allegory falls apart like this, but like. the allegory is the entire fucking movie lol. they are constantly talking about it in every scene, the first song mentions "building a wall," the main antagonist (who may or may not be intended to evoke trump???) manipulates the earth ponies' prejudices to make them all go full fascist, etc. it is not subtle. of course, this story isn't ALL bad - the adventures along the way were fun, i was relieved when everyone realized that the macguffin wouldn't magically make everyone get along again (although realizing this DOES make the macguffin restore everyone's magic which seems to mostly fix everything, so... lol), and a message about looking past stereotypes and misinformation to befriend people who are different from you definitely isn't a bad one for a kids' film. and obviously a story with this target demographic is ALWAYS going to have to simplify reality a bit. it's just extremely obvious that they wanted to go for a nuanced topical political story that would surprise the parents in the audience and maybe teach kids a thing or two, and it turned out messy

but again, i liked the characters. it was nice to look at. it was cute. i'll gladly watch a new show with these characters. i hope the inevitable show focuses less on this political allegory though lol

anyway there's a shot of fluttershy and rainbow dash in the opening scene so 10/10

[danniburgh]

Rushingly Bittersweet, (Javier Peña x f!reader) part 1.

Pairing: Javier Peña x ofc//f!reader with name.

Summary: After the fall of Escobar everything starts happening way too fast for Javier; his raise, his new office, his new team, the Cali cartel's operation, the sudden arrival of a new agent that was transferred to his team for no apparent reason, the way he was falling in love with her almost unintentionally.

And he couldn't seem to stop any of that.

Word count: +2.1k

Series warnings: talks and mentions of misogyny and sexism, cursing, smoking, drinking, eventual sex, cartel shit, watch me make some shit up to fit reader inside the narrative, guns, dea shit, feels, javier actually being a little bit more introspective, just basically me inserting reader into the third season

Chapter warnings: depictions of misogyny and some cursing

A/N: This chapter is set in season three, episode one. // this has been simmering in the back of my head for way too long, i even made a post about it just trying to ease the weight of my thoughts but my mind keeps racing with more things about this exact story, so here goes nothing. THIS GOES ALONG THE CANON OF THE THIRD SEASON kinda (so yeah, spoilers if you haven’t watched it yet), i actually had to watch it to write this because in the end, you’re a fucking DEA agent baby (also please keep in mind that english is not my native language, im really trying for this to be GOOD) 

Read on ao3 // fic index // Masterlist // fic playlist

comments and reblogs are eternally appreciated 💓 let me know if you wanna be tagged

// next→

You knew you chose a difficult job, hell, a difficult career, you knew you had to prove yourself, your worth and your abilities countless times, at this point it wasn’t even that much of a surprise anymore. Every time you encountered another man in the office or in the field, you had to spend an incredible amount of time first proving you were capable and you knew what you were doing before even getting to work.

Yet you got comfortable in your previous destination, you had a team, you had people to trust and trusted you back, they knew you were more than capable, you didn’t have to tell them to listen to you or your ideas, you didn’t have to ask for anyone’s approval. You were just another agent.

But now you had to do it all over again.

“Shit” you growled, trying to unwrinkle your blazer with one hand, the flight down to Colombia hadn’t been at all gentle to you and you were tired and cold. Your feet were sore, your back was killing you, you were fighting the desire to get rid of your suit skirt and run to put some pants on, everybody was lying when they said Colombia was a hot place, the air was chilly, and the dress suit you were wearing barely provided any meaningful heat, and the fact that nobody went to pick you up at the airport made you even more frustrated. You were still pulling around your suitcase because apparently the embassy is such a fucking mess that not even one person told you where you were going to live yet. 

You showed your badge to the guards at the doors and they let you in without much of a look. You walked right through the lobby into the elevator, sighing in relief. Thanks America and its air conditioned buildings.

The elevator doors opened and you walked straight inside of the DEA offices, they were small, cramped and dark, great, just how you liked your work spaces.

“Hi” you said, approaching the small front desk, the receptionist looked up at you and smiled, it was the first smile you saw in a while and that made you feel a little less frustrated, you pulled out the badge again and showed it to her “can you please direct me to the office of Javier Peña?” you asked.

The girl tilted her head to the left in confusion.

“Are you agent Martin?” she said with her thick american accent, you put the badge again in the pocket of your dress pants and nodded to her.

“Yes, is he– is he expecting me?” 

“Not really, but agent Feistl is,” she said, pointing to a cornered desk almost in the back where a blond man was sitting, he looked up at the sound of his name and you sighed again.

“Oh, yeah, I talked to him on the phone, thank you,” you said, smiling a bit back to her while you walked around the unoccupied desks in the front of the office “Feistl” you said his name once you reached his desk, stretching out your hand to shake his “agent Martín” you said “it’s nice to meet you” he looked at you, frowning, but took your hand nonetheless and shook it.

“Chris Feistl” he said, a little taken aback and another man approached both of you “this is my partner, Daniel Van Ness” the larger man gave you a single nod and you shook his hand again.

“You’re agent Martin?” Van Ness said.

Here we go again.

“My last name is Martín, first name Florencia” you said, accentuating the í in your last name, inhaling the tension around and making it your own, yet another time “I’m guessing you were expecting a man?” you dropped, they looked at each other “don’t worry, it happens everytime” you finished with a small grin.

They remained silent, looking at you, yet another time you let them, although for a single moment you actually wondered if there was something wrong with the way you looked; you gave a glance to yourself on the elevator walls on your way up and aside from your hair being close to look like a mess you were ok, you take another second to try to analyze the men in front of you, the way they were standing, the expression on their faces, they were shocked that was for sure, but also… relieved? and somehow… happy?.

“Is there anywhere I can put this?” you asked, glancing at the suitcase.

“You came here all the way from the airport?” Feistl asked, you nodded.

“Yeah, no one showed up so I just grabbed a cab” Van Ness snorted and you looked at him. He didn’t say anything, “where’s my desk?” you asked again, starting to feel more frustrated but also a bit amused when again they didn’t say a thing, “you did get the memo that you’d be getting a new person today, right?” you questioned in a huff, a bit louder, looking at them in utter disbelief. Fucking embassy, fucking DEA.

“Is agent Martin here?” you heard your name being called from behind you, the men in front of you just widened their eyes and looked at you. 

“That would be me” you announced, turning around, seeing a tall, tanned skin, sweaty man approaching you, “and you must be Javier Peña” you said, allowing yourself to be more assured, stretching your hand again.

“You are agent Martin” he said, making it sound half like a question, half an assertion, looking at you up and down, he put his hands on his hips, not bothering to take your hand.

“Florencia Martín, yes sir” you dropped down your hand and pronounced your last name again, trying to get american people to pronounce your name was hard, and you hoped at least Javier Peña would understand it, yet he said it wrong. He just stood there and you glanced at him discreetly, he, differently from the men behind you, was a walking ball of frustration, you sympathized and tried to read his posture. He was trying to be cocky but his try died in his eyes, he was shocked, surprised and not at all entertained.

“No wonder why I couldn’t find you in the airport” he growled.

“You were also expecting a man” you affirmed, this time, a small hint of disappointment grew inside your stomach “don’t worry, it happens all the time” you repeated roughly. You turned around to your new partners, not caring and ignoring the look your new boss was giving you “my desk?”

Van Ness pointed a small cubicle behind his and Feislt’s big desks, you suppressed a sigh and walked towards the space, still pulling your fucking suitcase, feeling the looks of three men in your back. You were used to this, you had done it countless times, and you knew you weren’t the only woman that has gone through this. But after spending the time you spent in one single place, with the same people, doing the same thing, after having an amazing partner that had believed in you since the day you almost punched the shit out of him on the academy, after having your own office to work with him, after having faced many masculine faces disapproving you being in the same rooms as them while chasing bad guys, after receiving thousands of condescending looks when you said anything, and yet being capable of raise everybody’s expectations, starting it all over again not only sounded hard, it also sounded exhausting.

Javier couldn’t believe his fucking luck when he looked at you. He certainly was expecting a man, Washington only told him so much and he assumed what everyone did when they heard your last name, in the end it was a masculine name. For some reason he felt guilty when you told him you always get that reaction.

He tried to examine you, ever the analyzer, but he got nothing, not from the way you were still standing in front of the ridiculously small cubicle, tapping your foot against the carpeted floor, or the way you kept putting a thin strand of hair behind your ear and it kept falling in front of your right cheekbone, nothing from the way you reached for the manila folder that was waiting to be picked up or the way your fingers moved around the pages. You seemed unreadable to him and he didn’t like that. Not one bit.

You turned around when you felt his stare, he was still just standing there, looking at you.

“Is this really everything I have to be briefed on?” you questioned him lifting the folder in your left hand. He nodded and turned to the right to walk to his office “well fuck that” you murmured under your breath. You heard Van Ness snorting again and looked at him giving you a small smile, maybe you didn’t say that as quietly as you wanted, you gave him half a grin and he shook his head.

You took off your blazer and sat on the incredibly uncomfortable chair.

“Shit” you whispered again.

“Fuck” Javier said under his breath, loosening his tie and crashing into his chair. He rubbed his eyes with the ball of his hands and sighed. What the fuck did the people at Washington think. He was after a whole fucking cartel, he didn’t have his trusted partner this time, he was alone and he had to lead a team to do that, he had just lost two agents after they were stupid and reckless going around Cali and they dared to send down one random chick in some sort of replacement that for some reason seemed just so small and frail to him.

He was pretty sure you weren’t due to the fact that you were a DEA agent, but when he looked at you the only thing he could notice was the way your eyes were dimmed, maybe due to the fluorescent lights or the fact that you had flown who-knows how many hours to be there, or the way your hands seemed way too delicate to even handle a gun, or how your body looked breakable to the touch. 

He didn’t like the way his mind was forming his thoughts about you, it wasn’t right to think that way of a woman- no, a person- no, an agent he had just met, he just knew it was the macho part in him that saw you that way. He knew that if Washington had sent you all the way down to a god forsaken country fighting an unfair war, you had to be capable to endure it.

Javier scratched his stubble and reached for the thinest folder he had on his desk, it was your file. He grinned when he opened it, unbelieving of the almost non existent amount of information it had about you. It did have your full name, though, so, mistaking you for a guy was indeed his fault, just because he didn’t read the file before. 

He browsed through the last locations you had been sent to and raised his eyebrows when he saw the amount of time you’d spent in the last place. No wonder why you were being so reluctant about everything you saw and how you were being treated. He remembered how he felt when he was a newcomer and he remembered what he had to go through with Steve when he first came to the country, it was awful, and even without the language barrier, as your file said you did speak spanish, he assumed you must feel like an outcast. It was never easy, arriving at a place where everything seemed like it belonged there but you.

Javier closed the file and threw it back to the pile of manila folders in front of him. He did have his doubts about you, and surely he was wondering why he had only been sent that joke of a file and nothing else, and he didn’t want to make your stay in Colombia or at the embassy a living hell, but he did want to see what you were able to do, he couldn’t wait for you to show him what you had in you.

That last thought sent him for a bit through a deliciously nasty tangent, and he had to bring himself back to the initial train of thought: you. 

You were now his. No– you were now in his team. He was now your boss. He couldn’t think of you in any other way even if sometimes it couldn’t be avoided.

Javier rubbed his lower lip with his thumb, wondering what were you working on before arriving, trying to think what was happening in México that made you stay that long.

And a question was forming in his head… What the hell did you do to be sent to Colombia?

// next→

[kob131]

Okay first off-

-Jewish people are not white. That's factually just not true. They do not originate from Europe, which is the region where the group of 'white people' come from. They literally come from Israel. So if people native to Israel are not white then the Jewish people as an ethnicity as not white. And in fact, have been discriminated against in 'white' circles for decades if not centuries. I mean, remember all those jokes about rich white clubs that had the rule of 'No Blacks or Jews'? Yeah, that actually rings true.

-The argument for the Jewish people being native to Israel not 'helping' '''indigenous struggles''' should not affect you. You are arguing a moral standard, you must apply said moral standard in all applicable situations regardless of if it benefits you. The entire point of arguing a moral standard is that it helps makes things better for everyone- basically going 'this doesn't apply here because it fucks me over' is surrendering the moral argument. You just want an uneven playing field, not to be moral and principled.

All of this ignoring that if you can just strip the Jewish People of their 'native' card- Well...what's stopping other countries of stripping their natives of their own status? What's stopping the USA from looking at the Natives and saying 'Since no one alive in your communities actually lived during the time that they owned the land, it's ours now' and then just killing them? The whole argument for natives is that other cultures got the chance to build up their own histories so they should too. If said histories no long matter because *insert bullshit here* then anyone can make anything up to justify it.

-I think that if you were to apply that standard to everyone- You would quickly find the world screeching to a halt. Native tribes murdered and conquered each other too. Same with African tribes, who then sold their prisoners in the slave trade. We can't focus on every single atrocities committed because the number of atrocities exceed human comprehension.

-What's even the point here? That you would get sunburned from living in Israel thus it means you have changed so much that you no longer count? You do know that if I dropped you in the middle of Africa, you'd likely die of exposure right? Does that mean all African Americans have no rights to live in Africa?

This is such a dumb argument. Especially if we take the simplified version of 'This happened so long ago that it no longer counts' because to a human, 2000 years and 158 years aren't that different. You basically made the argument 'The US and Europe are off the hook for slavery'.

-And that's the problem isn't it? This isn't about 'what is indigenous?' It's 'what is beneficial for me?' You side only with the people who are a part of your argument. You care only for advancing your own privilege and ensuring everyone else is below you. The same mindset that caused the evils of imperialism.

The African Jews, ironically, have even less of a right to Israel than the 'White' Jews. Because the 'White' Jews have an actual ethnic history there, the African Jews don't. If you actually believed in the standard of 'Ethnic people deserve to have their ancestral home' then you would care more for the Jewish people you disregard than the religious Jews you support. Again, you only care about them because you see it as increasing your own privilege.

-It's literally more of a claim that the sub groups you support by your own logic but okay.

-Gonna be honest here-

You are native to America.

The only reason I accept this conflict in the slightest is because both groups have lived and grown up in that area. They accept that area and it's ideals, culture and beliefs. They are actually native to that area. Your hypothetical does not apply because you did not grow up in England. You did not accept that culture as your own. You do not have a right to it because you never earned it.

The Arabs and the Jewish People in Israel did.

-'still black ppl enslaved in the US-'

Literally been illegal for 158 years, dumbass. To such a point it's not even a part of fringe political discourse. And no, the prison system doesn't count- that isn't slavery.

-'And the discourse around Jewish Indigineity to Isareal won't change anything for other indigenous groups nomatter which way the wind blows.'

Well if the argument that 'being separated from country of origin for X years means you no longer count' is accepted- You're gonna quickly find yourself up shit creek without a paddle.

Gentile leftists, this is a PSA, and I am begging you to listen. Sharing claims that Jews aren’t indigenous to the land of Israel, that Jews don’t come from the Middle East, and/or that the Zionist movement wasn’t created in response to centuries of antisemitism & genocide is fringe revisionist history with a long antisemitic history. These aren’t anti-imperialist or anti-colonial stances. They are just antisemitic conspiracy theories.

And on the flip side, acknowledging the simple fact that Jews are indigenous to the region currently occupied by Israel & Palestine does not imply any opinion about the modern states of Israel & Palestine, their governments, or the conflict in the region. This post is not voicing support for Zionism or the state of Israel. This is literally just historical fact: both Jews and Palestinians are indigenous to the region where modern day Israel & Palestine are.

If you make this about the politics or conflicts of the modern states of Israel or Palestine—if you comment or send me asks to that effect—you will be blocked.

[meichenxi]

Dear ‘White guy speaks perfect X and shocks Y!’ language YouTubers: STOP

A rant about every single fucking video by Xiaomanyc and similar YouTubers all titled things like CLUELESS WHITE GUY/GIRL LEARNS [INSERT NON-WHITE LANGUAGE HERE] AND SHOCKS [INSERT PLACE].

Disclaimer: I am white British, and I am also very often a moron. I'm trying to inform myself more, and would like to learn. So let me know if there is anything I should change, anything I’ve got wrong or any terminology I can change. 

So this evening I opened YouTube to get some quality Hikaru no Go content, and saw yet another video recommended to me about Xiaomanyc called Clueless white guy orders in perfect Chinese, shocks patrons and staff!!!!

Really? Really. Ok, his Chinese certainly is good - but it isn't great. And it isn’t necessarily any better than people I've seen in the higher levels of a class at university who have spent some time in China. It's solidly intermediate. That's not an insult - that level of Chinese is hard to attain, and definitely worth celebrating!! Hell, I celebrate every new word I learn. But while it may be unusual, it doesn't forgive the clickbait type videos like 'White guy speaks perfect Chinese and wows [insert place]'. 

These kind of clickbait titles rest on a number of assumptions. Before I say any more, I just want to make a note about terminology. Note that ’majority’ and ‘minority’ are not necessarily helpful labels, because they imply both a) a higher number of speakers in a certain place, and b) socially prestigious in some way. Of course a language like standard Mandarin is not a minority in China, but it might be in Germany. Talking about ‘minority’ languages that have a large speaker base outside of the country, like Chinese, is also not the same as talking about languages that have been systematically surpressed by a colonising, dominant language in their original communities, like indigenous languages. In many communities, especially in colonial and post-colonial situations, the language spoken by the majority is not one of prestige at all. Or some languages may be prestigious and expected in oral contexts, but not written - and so on. I use these terms here as best I can, but don't expect them to work 100% of the time.

So let’s unpack these assumptions a little. 

1) That there is something inherently more ‘worthy’ in somebody who learns languages because they want to, rather than because they have to: and that, correspondingly, the people who want to are white (spoilers: much of Europe is multilingual, and white immigrants in majority white countries also exist, as well as discrimination against them e.g. Polish people in the UK), and that those who have to learn are not (spoilers: really? There are plenty of non-white monolinguals who are either happy being monolingual, don’t have access to learning, or don’t have to learn another language but are interested in it).

2) That everybody from a certain background automatically speaks all ‘those’ languages already, or that childhood multilingualism is a free pass - spoilers, it isn’t. Achieving high levels of fluency in multiple languages is hard, especially for languages with different writing systems, because no matter how perfect your upbringing, you’re still ultimately exposed to it maximum 50% of the time of monolingual speakers. Realistically, most people get far less exposure than 50% in any of their languages. Also, situations of multilingualism in many parts of the world are far more complex than home language / social language. You might speak one language with your father and his father, another with your mother and her family, another in the community, and another at school. Which one is your native language then? Monolinguals tell horror stories of ‘both cups half empty’ scenarios, but come on - how on earth do you expect a person to have the same size vocabulary in a language they hear only 25% of the time? Also, languages are spoken in different domains, to different people, in different social situations: just because someone hears Farsi at home doesn’t mean they can give a talk on the filing system at their local library. If something is outside of a multilingual person’s langauge domain, they might have to learn the vocabulary for it just like monolinguals. There’s no such thing as the ‘perfect bilingual’. 

3) That learning another language imperfectly for leisure is laudable, but learning one imperfectly for work or survival is not. If you’re a speaker of a minority language, learning another language is necessary, ‘just what you have to do’, and if you don’t do it ‘properly’, that’s because of your lack of intelligence / laziness etc. It’s cool for the seconday school student to speak a bit of bad Japanese, but not so cool for the Indian guy who runs her favourite restaurant in Tokyo. 

4) That majority speakers learning a minority language is somehow an act of surprising benevolence that should not go unrewarded. Languages are intrinsically tied up with identity - and access to them may not be a right, but a gift. Don’t assume that because you get a good reception with some speakers of one language that speakers of another will be grateful you’re learning their language, or that everyone will react the same. One of the reasons these videos are possible at all is that many Chinese speakers, in my experience, are incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic to non-natives learning Chinese. Some languages and linguistic groups have been so heavily persecuted that imagining such thing as an ‘apolitical’ language learner is a fundamental misunderstanding of the context in which the language is spoken, and essentially an impossibility when the act of speaking claims ownership to a group. Many people will not want you to learn their language, because it has been suppressed for hundreds of years - it’s theirs, not yours. We respect that. Whilst it’s great to learn a minority language, don’t do it for the YouTube likes - do it because you’re genuinely interested in the language, people, culture and history. We don’t deserve anything special for having done so. 

5) That speaking a ‘foreign’ (i.e. culturally impressive / prestigious) language is much more impressive and socially acceptable than speaking a heritage language, home language or indigenous language. There are harmful language policies all around the world that simultaneously encourage the learning of ‘educational’ languages like Spanish, and at the same time forbid the use of the child’s mother tongue in class. And many non-majority languages are not foreign at all - they were spoken here, wherever you are, before English or Spanish or Russian or, yes, standard Mandarin Chinese. Policies that encourage standardised testing in English from a very young age like the ‘No Child Left Behind’ policy in the US disproportionately affect indigenous communities that are trying to revitalise their language against overwhelming callousness and cruelty - they expect bilingual children to attain the same level of English as a monolingual in first grade, which in an immersion school, they obviously won’t (and shouldn’t - they’ll get enough exposure to English as they grow up to make it not matter later down the line). But if the schools want funding, their kids have to pass those tests. 

There’s more to cover - that’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

Some people’s response to these videos and why the titles are ‘wrong’ would be: does it matter that he's white? Shouldn't it just be 'second language learner speaks perfect Chinese'? This is the same sort of attitude as ‘I don’t see race’. I think it does matter that he is white - because communities of many languages around the world are so used to them having to learn a second language and colonial powers not bothering to learn theirs. You wouldn't get the same reactions in these videos if he were Asian American but grew up speaking / hearing no Chinese - because then it would be expected. You also wouldn't get the same reaction if he were an immigrant in a Chinese-speaking community from somewhere else in Asia.

It also implies that all white people = monolingual Americans with no interest in other cultures. While we all are complacent and complicit in failing to educate ourselves about the effects of historical and modern colonialism, titles like this perpetuate a very harmful stereotype - and I don't mean harmful as in 'poor Xiaomanyc', but harmful in that it suggests that this attitude is ok, it's part of 'being white', and therefore doesn't need to change. The reaction when someone doesn't engage with other cultures and isn't willing to learn about them shouldn't be 'lmao classic white guy'. That not only puts the subject in a group with other 'classic white guys', but puts a nice acceptable label on what really is privilege, a lack of curiosity, ignorance, and the opportunity (which most non-white people don't have) to have everything you learn in school and university be about you. If you're ignorant - ok. We are all about many things. But you don't have any excuse not to educate yourself. The 'foreigner experience' that white people get in places like China is not the same as immigrants in a predominantly monolingual, predominantly white English speaking area. As we can see in those kind of videos, white foreigners may be stared at, but ultimately enjoy huge privilege in many places around the world. It's not the same. 

It also ignores, well, essentially the whole of Europe outside the UK and Ireland and many other places around the globe, where multilingualism is incredibly common - and where the racial dichotomy commonly heard in America isn't quite appropriate, or an oversimplification of many complex ethnic/national/racial/religious/linguistic etc factors that all influence discrimination and privilege. Actually many 'white guys' in Europe and places all around the world speak four or five languages to get by - some in highly privileged upbringings and school systems, yes, but others because they have grown up in a border town, or because they are immigrants and want to give their children a better start than they did, or because they want to work abroad and send home money. Many, like people all around the world, don't get a chance to learn to read and write their first language or dialect, which is considered 'lesser' than the majority language (French, Russian, English etc); many people, like Gaelic speakers in Scotland or speakers of Basque in France, have faced historical persecution and have been denied opportunities for speaking their mother tongue. My mother was beaten and my grandparents denied jobs for being Gaelic speakers. They are white, and they have benefited from being white in lots of other ways - but their linguistic experience is light-years from Xiaomanyc's. 

It isn't 'white' to be surprised at a white person speaking another language - it's just ignorant. But the two ARE correlated, because who in modern America can afford to go through twenty one years and still be ignorant? People who have never had to learn a second language; people who have always had everybody adapt to THEIR linguistic needs, and not the other way around. People who have had all media, all books, centred around people who look like them and speak like them. And even in America, that's not just 'white' - that's specifically white (often middle class) English monolinguals.

I'm not saying everybody who doesn't speak a language should feel guilty for not learning one ( it's understandably not the priority for everyone - economic reasons, family, only so many hours in the day - there are plenty of reasons why language learning when you don’t have to is also not accessible to everyone).  But be aware of the double standards we have as a society towards other socially/racially/religiously disadvantaged groups versus white college grads. You can't demonise one whilst lauding the other. 

To all language YouTubers - do yourself a favour, and stop doing this. Your skills are impressive - that's enough. 

 tldr; clickbait titles like this rely on double standards and perpetuate harmful ideas - don't write them, and let your own language skills do the talking please.

[kip-loric]

Icicle - Lorictober

October 1st! This is my Loric fanfiction for today. I didn't do much editing, but I think it turned out pretty well! Word count:1,142

I form another icicle and twirl it around in the air with my telekinesis. Then, just like I did with the others, I chuck it at the wall. It shatters and joins the other pieces of ice on the ground. I pull my legs up farther to myself before making another pointed piece of ice.

I’m not sure of my location, but I know that I’m in Chicago. Somewhere. An abandoned warehouse or some other crumbling building. It didn’t matter when I left the remains of the Hancock center and Nine’s destroyed penthouse.

I throw my new icicle at the wall and it meets the same fate of the ones that came before it. They haven’t melted much, it’s almost winter and the sun just went down. I’m only in a thin tank top, but it doesn't matter, the cold doesn’t bother me much now.

Another piece of ice hits the concrete wall.

I barely remember my walk here. I had gone to the construction site, where they’re trying to clean the rumble away for the new building. They hadn’t done much in two and a half years, you could still see the foundation of the center. But it was important. My last stop.

A pair of icicles hit the wall at the same time.

Turns out I couldn’t move on with John last year. I think that was obvious, but I still tried. I wanted someone by my side again, but it wasn’t John, and he didn’t do much to take away my anger. So I left. I didn’t say anything, I just left a little note telling John I was going to be okay on my own. He had told me what Nine was doing in California, and that Sam and Six were frolicing about around the world. So I tried to avoid where I thought they would go.

A tear goes down my cheek and freezes there. Ice cracks and falls.

I got a plane ticket and went to South America. I lived in Brazil for a time, but moved to Chile after a month. I spoke Spanish with the natives, but it brought back raw memories of Adelina and Hector. So I moved to Australia, in a house surrounded by miles of desert. I didn’t have to worry about the heat, I don’t feel a certain temperature anymore.

I straighten my legs out and throw an icicle at the wall again.

Then I got another scar. I stared at it for too long before packing a bag and going back to where I last saw John. He wasn’t the only one there. Hundreds of human garde were living there, and more kept being found. I saw Nine first, it was awkward and tense between us and neither of us said much.

I throw a block of ice at the memory of who died.

It was Five. Six told me, with Sam by her side. I was stunned when she described what he did for everyone. I should’ve been relieved, content, even happy at the news, but I just felt even more empty. I didn’t even stay the night, just left right away.

Another icicle gets flung.

I went to a random island in the middle of nowhere. Nothing great, enough food and shelter while I healed. I stayed there for a couple months until I decided to go to Florida. I don’t why I went, I just woke up one morning and knew that's what I had to do.

I bring one leg closer to my body and push it against the ground. Once I’m standing I create another piece of ice and throw it at the wall.

I went to where Eight died and stayed there for three nights. I took the same path I had years ago, when Nine, Six and I were betrayed by Five. Two days in the swamp. I don’t remember much from the first trip, just a haze of anger and a feeling of uselessness.

Half a dozen more icicles form and hit the wall.

The town had still been there, with the little shitty huts and the bar. I had walked in, retracing my steps. Not much happened except for me staring at the space where a T.V. had once been, and then I went along my journey.

I make more icicles appear in the air around me.

That’s how my last couple of weeks went, traveling to the spots where Eight was. My last stop was Chicago. I went where we got pizza and the beach that we walked down. And at last the wrecked Hancock Center.

There’s more than three dozen icicles around me now. I step forward a couple of steps before flinging them at the wall. I close my eyes and rapidly create more spikes of ice. They hit the wall one by one and cascade down to the cracked concrete ground.

I hear something scuttle away from me, but it’s background noise at this point. I open my eyes with a scream and fling as many icicles as I can.

My hands and arms go into the motion, and I shove them forward with each group of icicles that go flying to their doom. I feel tears prick at the corners of my eyes and streak down my cheeks.

The icicles grow bigger and break into smaller pieces as my emotions consume me.

“Fuck you, Mogs!” I scream at the wall.

I had done this almost everywhere else on my trip. I had screamed and cried and broken a bit more while I created and destroyed with my legacy. This time isn’t any different. I let myself remember everything that happened and feel for the things that will never happen.

I’m panting by the time my icicles shrink down again. Sweat drips down my face, but slows down because of the cold.

I don’t feel as cold though. Just like the other times. I don’t feel cured or no longer sad, no shit like that. But every time I break like this, I feel a little better.

I wipe my forehead with my arm before looking at the ground. Large pieces of ice mix in with smaller ones that are melting into a puddle.

I study it for a moment before walking to my right and underneath a crumbling doorway. I weave out of the broken maze and back to the crowded street.

A few people walk down the sidewalk, chatting together like nothing could be more mundane. I step out to the curb and stick my hand out. A taxi pulls up and I open the back door.

“Where to?” The driver asks in the accent that will always remind me of Nine.

“Closest airport,” I reply, closing the door behind me as I scoot into the seat.

“Oh, where ya goin’?”

“Himalayas.”

[youmyjhope]

about the recent bts / permission to dance slander

( its gonna be here too cuz its my blog and i dont care. its about the ppl who shit on bts because of their english songs. i got so mad after seeing everyone bitch on reddit. )

yall be fucking dramatic and really don't seem to like the boys very much if you doubt them, it's fucking cringe... the way y'all think y'all know better than hybe and bts themselves PLS. like i understand not liking the song, it's not their best work BUT IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE and bts themselves always say that their english songs are not deep. yall cross the line when yall PROJECT on the members and go like "ahh there's something wrong with them, bts sold out, they need a break, they don't like making music anymore". yall even say you wish them to enlist and other shit 🤢🤢

but bitch are you YOONGI to say that he's losing passion for music or that he should hate the musical direction bts is taking or whatever? you have this imaginary yoongi in your head and when the REAL yoongi doesnt meet your stupid expectations you SHIT ON HIM AND BTS. you act so fucking pathetic and ALL you need to do about it is simply be invested in bts enough, listen to THEIR OWN words and to all their music not only 3 english songs. YOUR BTS SELLING OUT / LOSING PASSION / BEING CLUELESS NARRATIVE IS BULLSHIT. you are not even a fan because it should be obvious for fans.

when you complain about lets say yoongi being proud about the billboard and talking about being first a lot cuz "ITS IS SO WRONG, HE ONLY CARES ABOUT NUMBERS NOW", are you seriously this dumb? MAYBE LEAVE HIM ALONE AND FUCKING LET HIM BE PROUD AND CONFIDENT?? Ofc he should talk about it and be proud CUZ DUH their achivements are amazing. bts are always greatful and work SO hard for them. they are having this huge success because they deserve it 100 % and they ALWAYS acknowledge that armys support them in return for everything they do for us. what you think he is supposed to do, cry and say that bts is shit and armys are shit for supporting bts cuz YOU think bts is shit and sold out?😐 bts members are very ambitious and goal-oriented, have always been this way, and they have the RIGHT to be. again, if there's anybody who deserves having records broken, it's THEM.

they said numerous times that they are aiming at the grammys with all these english releases. IT IS THEIR GOAL FOR NOW. they have reached more things than anyone could ever imagine so next they want a grammy and they will get it. idc if you think grammys are shit so bts shouldnt try to get the award, THEY ARE TRYING AND THIS IS THEIR WAY. they are doing everything they can to be acklowledged by this highly biased institution which is STILL CONSIDERED INFLUENTIAL worldwide. they make connections in america and make english songs that break records and actually give them recognition there (cuz apparently some americans dont know that english translations exist).

bts are phenomenal, very different from other artists, and so talented but ppl think they are not worthy of something called "the most important music award". they will actually give this award the meaning it is supposed to hold. cry if you disagree. you say bts are selling out and seek western validation but you miss the point. THE REAL ISSUE IS THAT WITHOUT THESE ENGLISH SONGS AND CONNECTIONS BTS WILL CONTINUE TO BE IGNORED BY THE RACIST AMERICAN MUSIC INDUSTRY.

and then if you say "they should make deeper english songs to win a grammy" consider

1) english is not their native language but even then they are doing great and make good happy pop songs

2) dynamite literally gave them the nomination??, making this type of song was a right move

3) pls they gave the bts's award to some lady gaga shit purely because WHITE AMERICAN and connections. like I literally would prefer bts putting out the most low-effort terrible song and getting a grammy because armys held the committees hostage than THIS CORRUPT NONSENSE.

hmm do some of yall really have the audacity to say that bts didnt deserve to win? they are authentic, talented, hard-working, worthy. THEY LITERALLY PAVED THEIR WAY TO THE GRAMMYS. THEY MADE WHAT NOBODY IN KOREA HAS DONE BEFORE. all that just to be fucking disrespected by old white men????

so in conclusion BTS ARE THE SAME. they changed ofc but for the better. they have goals and reach them. THEY ARE NOT SELLING OUT. they have too much at stake for yall to be throwing this phrase around. THEY WILL GET THE GRAMMY.

AND i didnt dislike ptd. in fact ptd is the SOTC. so just stay mad.

[the-shiftshop]

What’s In The Water?

Credits to @maleappreciasian for the pictures. Check is page out to appreciate more asian hunks.

"Jinho, thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem. I told you I’ll repay you soon enough. Now’s the time for that.”

“Naw, man. You didn’t have to go this far. Inviting me to your family’s farewell party? I ain’t part of your fam, man.”

“You treated me as a family when no one did at school, Daniel. Of course I’d treat you like that too.”

I just smiled back as I couldn’t disagree more. Jinho gave me an eye smile with his hand on his face and I couldn’t help but feel much calmer.

The story here is that Jinho was a transferee from Korea and he enrolled to our school to study for just a year, which was a bit unfortunate, although I know he would be happy for that. Jinho was bullied throughout the whole year for being Asian. I couldn’t see what’s wrong with being a different race, but students in our school didn’t think the way I did. I was the only person who approached Jinho, kindly. At first, he was kind of intimidated by me but I tried my best to connect with him. I started following him around, sitting with him at the cafeteria, studying around him at the library, and more. Soon Jinho got comfortable and I did all my best to protect him at all cost.

Today is the last day Jinho will stay here in the US. Since the party only accepts Jinho’s family members who live here in the state, he decided to sneak me in the venue in the morning. The party doesn’t start until 6 pm so we have the rest of the day for us to have fun together.

“Just drop us by the building, Gramps.” Jinho said to his driver as we approach the building. “And please make sure you won’t tell Mom or Dad.”

“Yeah of course I wont. I don’t want to ruin my favorite grandson’s last day here, right?” The man chuckled as he pull over by the sidewalk.

Jinho and I got out the car and he told me to enter the building as he would need a few word with his grandfather first, so I went in with my small backpack and sat on the sofa on the lounge. A few minutes later, Jinho came in with something in his hand. It looked like some sort of a small glass bottle with something shiny in it but I didn’t get a clear look at it as he hid it in his pocket. He pulled me by the arm and lead me to the elevator.

The elevator binged and the door opened. We entered and waited until we arrived at the highest floor. The door opened again and we got out and see the glory of the venue.

Jinho’s family was well prepared. The venue looked as if someone’s getting married today. There was a buffet on the side with a lot of tables for guests. Curtains fall down from the glass roof which made it look like a bit of a ceremony. There were tons of foods I’ve never seen before, and I quickly guessed that those were Korean foods.

There were people behind the buffet, most of them are still preparing for the party. These were also people fixing the curtains and tidying up the whole venue. What I’ve noticed though is that everyone were Asians. More specifically, Koreans. Jinho’s family was really picky with whom to let in the venue and it shows.

“Daniel.” Jinho called my name and I looked behind me. “Do you wanna eat first before we take a swim?”

“Ah... No. I’m full. Thanks.”

“Come on! At least just a few spoons. I want you to try my country’s dishes.”

I couldn’t really decline from Jinho. He’s very nice to me and all, and I can’t help myself but follow him. He grabbed me a plate from the buffet and got a few desserts and sides. Jinho told me what they are called whenever he get one. He got a few dumplings and placed them on the plate. On a small bowl, he poured some of those rice cakes with some sort of a spicy sauce. He also took a few of those vegetable rolls with rice wrapped in seaweed. After that, he guided me to the table.

“If you can’t use the chopsticks, here’s a fork.” He placed the plate and the utensils on the table and I sat down.

Jinho went back to the buffet to get me a drink. While he does so, I tried picking the dumplings with the metal chopsticks. It was very slippery and I always fall down the sticks. I gave up and proceeded in eating with a fork. I thought I wouldn’t enjoy the dumplings, but I finished all 8. There was something in the food that makes me want to try more. It might be because it’s very unique or, I may say, it have that unfamiliar taste. I then tried those rolls. I tried to pick it up with the fork but it only got the vegetables in the center, and eventually, the whole roll fell off, leaving only the radish, carrot and what seems to be a ham. I then decided to scoop it with the fork and put in it in my mouth. Again, it was delicious and I ended up eating everything on the plate. What were left were the spicy rice cakes.

I was really nervous at first. I never ate spicy food before. I never even tried putting sriracha on my food as well. This is basically my first time eating something intentionally spicy. I forked the rice cake and slowly placed it into my mouth. I chewed slowly at first, but soon, my tongue began to sting and I can’t help but chew faster. Though that didn’t help and I breathed heavily, trying to get the air cool down my mouth.

“Dan!” Jinho rushed to me with a glass of water. “I’m so sorry!”

“N-No. It’s fine.” I said as I drink water. Although it didn’t help that much, the icy feeling in my mouth eventually felt much better than having fire dancing in it. I fell back the support of my chair, trying to keep my tears from welling out my eyes.

“I’m really sorry. I thought you can handle it.”

“No, really. I’m fine! See? I have recovered already.” I said. “Bet I can actually finish this.” It was supposed to be a joke, but I still proceeded in getting another bite. As I chew down, I suddenly realized it wasn’t that spicy as before. I drank more water so wash down the small stinging in my tongue, then I took another rice cake. Soon, I can taste nothing but pure sweetness, though with a little bit of spice but it wasn’t that painful at all. “This is actually very good!”

I heard Jinho do a soft chuckle and stood up from his chair. “Glad you like it.” He then took of this shirt and exposed his skinny body. “Should we go and take a swim now?”

“I guess we can.”

I stood up and tried to take my shirt off. I then stopped for a bit, noticing that my shirt felt a little bit tighter than before. My eyes widened for a second but I just disregarded that and took it off. 

Jinho jumped into the water of the pool. As for me, I couldn’t run to the pool. There’s something that feels off. I felt as if I’m slowly gaining weight. I felt much heavier by every second that passed by. I started to feel lightheaded as well. I got dizzy for a full minute and noticed as if the ground looked much farther than before. I noticed the black hair blocking my sight so I tried to comb it away with my fingers.

Wait... Black hair? As far as I know I have blo.... blon.... bl... black.... Yeah... What’s wrong with me today? Why do I feel so off?

I placed scratched my chest and felt them grew with muscles. My eye’s widened, but then I realized it wasn’t the same as how I used to make it big. My eyes felt much smaller. Back to my body, I looked down to see abs starting to form and my biceps starting to get gains.

I smirked. I guess my exercise routine is working... But... I haven’t went to the gym before...? No... I haven’t returned to the gym for a week...

“What the heck is wrong with-” I cut myself. I grabbed my neck and felt a much prominent bulge on my throat. Why did I thought of my voice weird? It’s supposed to be this deep... right?

“A-Ahhh...” A moan escaped my mouth as I felt something grow in my boxers. I suddenly felt so horny and my cock was hard.

Get a grip of yourself! Snap out of it, Da-... Dan... 

“Hey, Daeho! Are you really just going to stand there?” Jinho called and I was brought back to reality.

Fucking hormones, suddenly doing this to me at this time of the day. I don’t want my brother to find me weird. I’m not gay and why am I feeling aroused around him? No. It’s just that I haven’t jacked off in a while. It’s not because of him. That’s weird!

“Wait a bit, okay? I’m technically 7 years older than you and being this old is giving me random nausea.” I shouted back... in Korean...

I grasped my mouth, but then again. What was weird about that? Of course I can speak fluent Korean. It’s not that I lived too long here in the USA to forget how to speak in my native language.

Fuck this. Maybe pool water will calm my mind down.

I slowly dipped into the water. I remembered my phone was in my pocket so I pulled it out and sat on the corner. I looked at me phone and saw my reflection on the black screen.

Right. Haha. Very funny, brain. Stop messing with me, making me think like I’m not Asian. I’m Daeho Park, 25 years old. A Korean in America.

Jinho swam near me and sat beside me under the sun.

“Bro. I’m so happy you’ll come back home with me.”

“Same, Jinho. Same.”

“I’m so thankful Grampa Timothee convinced you to make up with me.”

“Hey, Jinho. Let’s forget our problem before, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Jinho gave me one last smile before he splashed me with water.

“Hey! This jerk! My phone might get-”

“Then swim with me, you idiot!”

[urmomsstuntdouble]

Can you do one for america

Since I received this about an hour or two after posting my lithuania analysis, I assume you’re asking for an america character analysis. I was debating whether or not to go through with writing this or not for a while, but i’ve decided that I’ll try. I hope you enjoy it!

Idealism

The first thing that sticks out to me when thinking about america is that he’s super idealistic, and I think this has its roots in his birth. Everything in his life has been about hope and being better than others, even down to the decision to colonise north america. England needs to be the most powerful country in europe. Better set up a colony in america so that it can save us. It’s that sort of logic that i think gives america the idea that he needs to be perfect, or that he can be the ideal person. And though a lot of what we consider to be the “american” identity (intense patriotism, nativism, idealism, etc) took recognizable shape in the 19th century, i think this way of thinking was nothing new to alfred. He’d been raised on it, with the desire to please arthur sort of in his blood? Anyway i feel like the idea that the colonies would be so so prosperous really put the idea into america’s head early on that he was perfect and that he was destined to be such a great person, even if that wasn't true. I often see his daddy issues presented as solely abandonment issues, but my interpretation of america is more of a combination of abandonment issues and the pressure, some of it self inflicted, to be a perfect country. Basically, his idealism is deeply rooted in unhealthy places. 

Also, a religion headcanon i have is that while he was more raised to be a puritan, freddie prefers quakerism. Though he’s not the most compatible with quakerism, as it rejects violence and quakers often refer to themselves as the society of friends, and are very welcoming, i think it gives him some hope. One of freddie’s biggest problems is that he wants people to be better than they are, and quakerism helps a little with that, because it’s a way that he can help himself become better than he currently is. I feel like he’s been a quaker for a very long time, so he’s not a very good quaker, but this is still something that’s very important to him. 

Hero complex and other mental bullshit

America having a hero complex and also being physically 19 is something i think really highly of. First of all, it very much fits with the mythology of america being a sort of world savior. Secondly, a lot of american media focuses on heroism, whether its on the behalf of average people, like the hunger games, or on the behalf of superheroes, like the mcu- especially over the past 20 years. Though i think it’s a good thing to promote heroism, the hero-martyr complex that gen z has is. Oof. And i think alfred fits very well into that toxic sort of “heroism” that most gen z kids have. He thinks he’s somehow able to fix everything wrong with the world, just because he really wants to. Though that desire is genuine, it’s not always something that’s his place to fix or something that even needed fixing. There’s also a selfish component to that- He needs to prove himself, and heroism is the only way he thinks he can do that. It’s why he works out constantly and cares so much, on a personal rather than country-avatar-thing level, about being #1 at everything. He has to be better than everyone else because he has to be the perfect hero. 

I also think it’s interesting how america seems to have more pronounced daddy issues than canada, and i think this is something that harkens back to the 13 colonies (side note i hate the term ‘colonial times’ when referring to the time before the revolutionary war or canadian independence. These are settler states, its always colonial times.) and american independence. Canada sort of only exists because of british loyalists, as they made up the majority of the population around the turn of the 19th century. They saw themselves as being The Better Colonists. Real daddy’s boy types, and I think this is something that contributes to the hero complex. Because matthew refused to rebel so openly, that made arthur favor him as a son, so alfred felt the need to be even better than matthew- even though, of course, alfred was a bit more favored. 

Fighting Style

Freddie is very good at violence, but not in the same way that a lot of other nations are. Where they tend to be more well trained in specific styles of fighting, freddie just sort of has all of them? His mind is very crowded, i think. Also, the way that he would have learned to fight is different from the other super powerful countries by virtue of his youth, and by virtue of the different regional fighting styles in america. One that’s haunted me is a trend in the ability to rip off ears and noses- Particularly by white gangs in the antebellum south, this was seen as being like. A real badass. I think alfred was something of a feral child. If you know the saying “it takes a village to raise a child,” i think it really did with him. He had so many parents, just like a lot of the western hemisphere countries. But anyway because of all his many many parents, there was never any strong parental force in his life, so it’s more like he didn’t have any at all, and because of that, alfred was a very strange child. And because violence is so ingrained in american society, alfred is very good at fighting, both in order to be fun and flashy and for his own self defense. Though he doesn't really like to fight unless he feels like he has to (and other people are very good at convincing him that he does have to)

Sports

Though america is definitely super athletic and could probably naturally be good at most sports, i think there’s a few that he’d more gravitate towards. Those are basketball, track and field, and olympic lifting. I would include american football but it’s a stupid sport that doesn’t make any sense, so it will not be included for spite reasons. In basketball I think he’s sort of an every-man. I think he’s around six feet tall, so he really could play any position on offense, and as for defense, I think he’d play his best defense against the point guard, bc i feel like Alfred is really fast and good at getting up in your face. He’d have a ton of steals whenever defending against the point guard. I think he’d be a good center on offense, because he’s a bit aggressive and that would be useful for getting rebounds and put-backs, though i wouldn’t discount point-guard freddie, because he does like to be very inspiring. He’s pretty energetic as well, and a point guard can really carry the entire team in terms of energy and spirit. As for track and field, he’d also be an every man- I feel like he’d gravitate more towards sprinting events by personality, but his coach would stick him in wherever. Where olympic lifts are concerned, he’s absolutely a snatch specialist. 

Empire and contradictions

America is an empire. No way of getting around that. I think imperialism in hetalia is an interesting subject, especially where america is concerned. @mysticalmusicwhispers did a good job running that down here, but basically my thoughts on the matter are that alfred doesn't really like being an empire. There’s many angles to that. It’s lonely at the top, for one. There’s no one who relates to being a 21st century empire in quite the same way as him. Then you have the fact that a lot of people living in america have suffered under imperialism as well. Because of that, there’s a lot of self hatred and anxiety and a not knowing if he can fully trust himself. Theres also the obsession that many americans have with people from other cultures being able to assimilate to american wasp culture. Because of all the people who live in the states who are very much not wasps and who can never be, it’s really hard on alfred, though he refuses to admit that things are anything but fine. 

Extras/Fun stuff

A book that reminds me of him is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. It’s a collection of short stories about O’Brien’s time serving in the military during the Vietnam War. It’s a very haunting book and I think about it at least once a week, but it is very violent and there’s a lot of fucked up stuff in it.

giveme chubby alfred or give me death

i feel like this shouldn’t have to be said, but sometimes there’s people who depict him as being pro-trump or pro-right wing bullshit, which. absolutely not. just because of all the political turmoil that exists within alfred, and because of all the pain he goes through because of all the hate that exists within his borders- hate that the entire world is forced to pay attention to. even though he might not have all the best sympathies or motivations, he’s just so tired of all the pain he personally goes through because of domestic political unrest, and would like it to end in the way that’s the least painful for him as a person. 

Bi king of my heart 

not a natural blond

I hc him as being mixed, though i’m not sure what exactly he’d look like? But i do enjoy alfred but not white, as poc are the driving force behind a lot of american life, right down to the languages we speak. Like. something like half the states names are the words of their indigenous peoples, and even more toponyms are indigenous across the country. Then of course i feel he’s very protective of aave and will always pronounce words in Not English correctly. (if u want to hear more about my language thoughts they’re linked below. Not gonna rehash it here cause those posts are Long™) 

My playlist for him!

Other analyses (age, linguistics) 

writing requests